Post by L Roebuck on Jul 2, 2008 7:13:10 GMT -5
Secrets Of The Cave’s Art
Finally Allowed Back Into The Cave Containing The World's Oldest Rock Paintings, Scientists Seek Clues To The Lives And Beliefs Of Ancient Artists
By Sharon Begley, NEWSWEEK
Standing before the hanging rock deep inside the damp cave, archeologist Yanik Le Guillou had a brainstorm: he would mount the digital camera on a 10-foot-long pole, maneuver it around and past the rock, turn the whole contraption just so, and... snap! capture on film whatever was hidden on the wall behind. On the first try, the scientists cut off the head of what looked like a painting of a bison. On the second try they cut off its feet. Finally they captured the whole animal--it was now looking more like a musk ox or a rhinoceros without horns--and the next day bagged even bigger quarry: painted next to the beast were a lion and a mammoth, powerful animals that are almost as rare in Paleolithic cave art as they are on the streets of Paris. It was like peering into the inner sanctum of an art gallery where the dealer kept the best works for his best customers. And although the Grotte Chauvet, in southeast France, was no gathering spot for Stone Agers drinking white wine and nibbling canapes, it came close: for thousands of years, archeologists now think, people returned to the grotto again and again on what seems to have been a spiritual pilgrimage.
Full Article
Finally Allowed Back Into The Cave Containing The World's Oldest Rock Paintings, Scientists Seek Clues To The Lives And Beliefs Of Ancient Artists
By Sharon Begley, NEWSWEEK
Standing before the hanging rock deep inside the damp cave, archeologist Yanik Le Guillou had a brainstorm: he would mount the digital camera on a 10-foot-long pole, maneuver it around and past the rock, turn the whole contraption just so, and... snap! capture on film whatever was hidden on the wall behind. On the first try, the scientists cut off the head of what looked like a painting of a bison. On the second try they cut off its feet. Finally they captured the whole animal--it was now looking more like a musk ox or a rhinoceros without horns--and the next day bagged even bigger quarry: painted next to the beast were a lion and a mammoth, powerful animals that are almost as rare in Paleolithic cave art as they are on the streets of Paris. It was like peering into the inner sanctum of an art gallery where the dealer kept the best works for his best customers. And although the Grotte Chauvet, in southeast France, was no gathering spot for Stone Agers drinking white wine and nibbling canapes, it came close: for thousands of years, archeologists now think, people returned to the grotto again and again on what seems to have been a spiritual pilgrimage.
Full Article